Colony Ship: A Post-Earth Role Playing Game News

Update: Everything is done and working fine. The game is well-tested and ready for release.

* * *

On Oct 24:

This is to keep you appraised of the game’s pre-release state and what we’re working on,

[h3]Content: [/h3]
The first iteration of the new content (the endgame events) was done on Oct 20th, ahead of schedule. It gave us time to play through it a few (dozen) times and see ways to improve it (the ways that aren't immediately obvious when you're designing the events on paper). The second iteration will be done today.

[h3]Ending slides:[/h3]
Almost done, waiting for the last slide. 7 endings in total.

[h3]Achievements:[/h3]
We're setting them up right now, still waiting for two more icons (art). 70 achievements in total.

[h3]Plans for the next two weeks:[/h3]

• Journal - the entries are too minimalistic, so now (that everything else is done) is the time to expand them
  
• Expanding dialogues (where appropriate, plus improving early dialogues)
  
• Civilian (ambient) animations
  
• Improving character customization
  
• Two more soundtracks plus Improving soundwork
  
• Visual improvements
  
• Optimization

It may sound like a lot, but keep in mind that these are different 'departments'.

[h3]Post-release Plans:[/h3]

We'll support (read 'improve') the game for 6 months after release, before transitioning to the tentative sequel or out of business (if the game doesn't sell enough to pay for said sequel). So if it's our last game, we'd like to make it as memorable as possible for people who like our design. If we stay in business, all the more reasons to do the same.

CHANGES

• Balance tweaks to reputation gain with factions.
  
• Interface tweaks.
  

FIXES

• Fixed text issues.
  
• Fixed the wrong reputation on Storm.
  
• Fixed issues with some traders.
  
• Fixed inconsistency in XP reward with Shadow.
  

The hardest update of the year is done and we can finally focus on the endgame events. We need about 3 weeks to wrap it up, the level design and most writing is already done, so we're confident enough to announce the release date - Nov 9.

The game was in development since Jan 2017, so it's been almost 7 years, which is quite a journey. We would have never made it this far without players willing to support us and help us make a better game. Thank you.

On to the update: while the main focus is the Pit (chapter 4), it adds several player-requested quest solutions (like sneaking past Hargrave in Mission Control), more sneaking opportunities and minor events, special deals for Master Trader (feat), changes to Armor Handling, changes to Cloaking Field (gadget) and the stealth system in general.

We didn't list recent updates on the store page as we kept them on the testing branch until the system changes were completed. So for the players on the default branch, this update also includes

- New Chapter 2 content.
- Party members' Bonding System.
- The Grangers' Alliance
- The Delivery (keeping it vague to avoid spoilers)
- The Habitat's questlines' conclusion

Thank you for playing, see you in a month.

- Fixed the issue in which Detroit and Black Hand gate weren't working on old saves.

Your adventure continues: now you can visit the lower levels of Mission Control, fight Ol' Beelzebub, fix and deploy Romeo, further upgrade your implants, enjoy quality of life and balance improvements, and learn more about the Ship:

Like oversized Tarot cards, these elaborately decorated panels tell the visitors their past, present, and future.

The first panel, named Hell, depicts a fragment of urban life on Earth: a dark sub-level - you can't really call it a street - lit by angry fires that have nothing left to consume.

Nothing can thrive or grow down there, nothing but pale, malnourished castaways, clinging to life with the tenacity of despair.

Far above is a glimpse of a railway overpass, its warning lights unable to pierce the darkness below. Higher still are the towers, reaching for the polluted sky, and the silvery traffic network between them.

The bottom dwellers dream of landing a factory job and taking a train to work one day; the wage-slaves riding the trains are driven by the fear of ending up at the bottom and the dream of making it into one of those towers; and in the towers, an empty man surrounded by nothing but material possessions yearns for death.

Waves of despair wash over you, until you step back, beyond the range of the hidden broadcaster.

The next panel is titled Purgatory and it depicts the Ship as it once was or perhaps how it was imagined back on Earth. Generations of colonists working tirelessly to create the tools the future generations would use to tame Proxima. Their lives are hard, but they're driven by purpose and hope, which is what separates them from their squalor-dwelling brethren back on Earth.

Through this sacrifice the wretched will be purified and the children of their children will be admitted into New Eden. This is the true gift of the Founding Fathers...

The broadcaster kicks in full gear, filling you with gratitude and a desire to purge away your sins through labor.

And finally the last panel. You don't need to read the sign to know what this is - a homesteader's paradise.

A land - *your* land, suggests the broadcaster, planting the idea in your head - stretching green as far as the eye can see, blue sky, free of smog and traffic, and your very own home, a place you will build with your own hands.

The more you stare at the shifting images, the more you want it and you can't tell for sure if it's the broadcaster selling you the dream or a deeply supressed desire.

You'll never know if things were as bleak as the panels paint it, but the colonists needed to believe their ancestors made the right call escaping hellish Old Earth and setting out for the paradise of New Eden.